The awards have been given by the Yad Vashem institute in Jerusalem since 1963 to “righteous gentiles” who helped save the lives of Jews.

Over 6,000 Poles have been awarded the Righteous among the Nations honour out of a total of 24,000 medals.

The ceremony on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Warsaw was attended by Ambassador Zvi Rav-Ner and former Polish foreign minister and inmate of the German Nazi Auschwitz death camp, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski.